1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[V8SuperBeetle]

I made some good progress on the bug this weekend. I sprayed another coat of high build primer. I did a walk around video rather than MORE pics. You can hear my neighbors cammed 2000 or so reg cab short bed pickup firing up and passing by. Encouragement...the guy regularly has shoe polish numbers on his windows from the drag strip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFCUdxyZ3L0


I wet sanded the fenders, deck lid, hood, and the driver's side of the car, inside and out, with 400 grit. The fenders and deck lid need just a touch more sanding (pin holes) and it'll be ready for sealer, color and clear!

Some pictures of the sanded panels.












The plan when it comes to paint is to do it in sessions so I don't wear myself out. I'll do the fenders in one session: a coat of sealer, two coats of s/s hugger orange, and two coats of clear. Then I'll let the paint cure for a few days, wet sand with 400, and then spray an over reduced coat of clear.

Next would be the deck lid and hood, cause they'll be black, same process, and then I'll do the body.

So I hope to get the fenders in paint this coming weekend. Did I mention the weather has finally gotten cooler and is perfect for painting.

[70Turbobug]

Encouragement...the guy regularly has shoe polish numbers on his windows from the drag strip.

I guess your shoe polish on the window will just have to have a lower number

[ricola]

No finer than 400? I went to 400 for filler, then 600 wet for the high build was still easy to make good progress and get a ncie smooth finish... Nearly there!

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by ricola

No finer than 400? I went to 400 for filler, then 600 wet for the high build was still easy to make good progress and get a ncie smooth finish... Nearly there!

400 will do. From my understand 400 minimum for solid colors and 600 minimum for metallics. You don't want to go too fine or you'll have adhesion problems. I plan to wet sand the clear as well and then spray a final wet coat of clear. So it should be fine.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by 70Turbobug

I guess your shoe polish on the window will just have to have a lower number

Right!

[V8SuperBeetle]

Here are the results of my paint session. I did one coat of epoxy primer to seal everything and to give a uniform color to paint over. I then sprayed 2 coats of single stag hugger orange and two coats of high solids clear.

I'm pretty happy with the way everything came out, but I did get a little orange peel in some areas, some trash, some solvent pop going on, and a couple of mess ups.

I laid the paint on a little too thick and have some sags and solvent pop going on as mentioned. I do and have planed to sand the panels with 400-600 grit to take care of any orange peel and then spray a wet / over reduced coat so it'll be pretty glassy. Sanding the paint will remove the imperfections.

All in all, it came out decent.




You can see a little bit of the solvent pop. I laid the paint on a little too thick. That's okay, nothing that can't be fixed with a little cutting.










Gotta fix this. : It wasn't the best idea the way I hung the fenders with the plastic and all. No biggie. The fender beading will cover most of it, but I still plan to fix it right with a little rubbing and some touch up spraying.






A little more solvent pop. Tis cool. Will be fixed.




I also did a little video so you could better see the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEPALNDafsI

[70Turbobug]

Looks good! All that is nothing sanding and polishing won´t fix..

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks! I'm going to sand with 400 - 600 and then spray an over reduced wet coat of clear. It'll come out looking like glass, for the most part.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Got a few things done over the weekend.

I finished sanding the solvent pop out of the fenders. I broke through the clear in a few places on each fender. So I'm going to have to put another coat of orange and two more coats of clear. I also let them sit out in the sun for a full day so they could vent all the solvents out.




I also sanded on the hood and deck lid a little more and then painted them black. I laid down a coat of sealer and a couple coats of black giving plenty of time between each coat so there's no solvent pop issues. I did however manage to get a run at the nose of the hood and a couple small spots on the deck lid. So I didn't move onto clear. I tend to spray my coats on a little too heavy. I just need to dial back the material a little.

I'm going to sand out the runs and the little bit of orange peel and trash in the paint, then follow up with another coat of black and 2 coats of clear. Other than the runs, it was coming out pretty nice. I couldn't be happier with how the body work came out.










Here's a quick video of how the hood and deck lid look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ax4fGf0F9o

[70Turbobug]

Great job!! Looks fantastic!

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks! It's getting there.

[V8SuperBeetle]

I got some spraying done this weekend. I finished sanding the runs out of the black. I put down two more coats of black and followed up with two coats of clear. It came out pretty well, but I had a bug crash land in my paint, a run on the deck lid, and the usual dust. No problem though. As planned, once the paint cures I'll sand out the imperfections with 600 grit and lay a final wet coat of clear.

I recorded my spraying sessions, well I forgot to record the first one.

Second coat of black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHilV2q-AjQ


First coat of clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTyLxWOZXg


Second coat of clear. My creeper tried to sabotage the paint on my deck lid. LOL. I laid the second coat of clear on wet so I will have some material to sand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc_E-Yhe6XY


Here are the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yJwi8sXkvY


I should have the hood and deck lid sanded before the end of the week. Maybe I'll get it done before the weekend so I'll have time to work on the fenders some more.

[70Turbobug]

I think it came out excellent especially considering where you painted the car.You´ll never get it 100% if your not in a steril envoronment.Even in paint booths you´ll have some dust or dirt specs.I wouldn´t try to put another coat on,honestly.I would see if that can polished out.If you spray again,you´ll risk more contamination.Just my opinion - I don´t think it will get any better,that´s as near to perfect as your gonna get painting in a garage.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by 70Turbobug

I think it came out excellent especially considering where you painted the car.You´ll never get it 100% if your not in a steril envoronment.Even in paint booths you´ll have some dust or dirt specs.I wouldn´t try to put another coat on,honestly.I would see if that can polished out.If you spray again,you´ll risk more contamination.Just my opinion - I don´t think it will get any better,that´s as near to perfect as your gonna get painting in a garage.

Thanks, Turbo. It too think it came out pretty good for spraying in my garage, minus a couple things. However, I'm going to sand out the urethane wave, dust and bug, and I'll lay one more wet coat. It should come out somewhere between looking like a factory finish and a cut and buffed paint job. This is how I will paint the entire car. I really don't plan on cutting and buffing cause $ is tight right now and I don't have the equipment to do so. If I can get the finish to look like that minus runs, bugs and whatnot, I'll be happy. I noticed when I laid the first coat, there was minimal dust and it was nice and flat. After 4 coats, dust gets kicked into the paint and urethane wave appears. So doing the extra coat of clear should yield better results.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by 70Turbobug

I think it came out excellent especially considering where you painted the car.You´ll never get it 100% if your not in a steril envoronment.Even in paint booths you´ll have some dust or dirt specs.I wouldn´t try to put another coat on,honestly.I would see if that can polished out.If you spray again,you´ll risk more contamination.Just my opinion - I don´t think it will get any better,that´s as near to perfect as your gonna get painting in a garage.

Thanks, Turbo. It too think it came out pretty good for spraying in my garage, minus a couple things. However, I'm going to sand out the urethane wave, dust and bug, and I'll lay one more wet coat. It should come out somewhere between looking like a factory finish and a cut and buffed paint job. This is how I will paint the entire car. I really don't plan on cutting and buffing cause $ is tight right now and I don't have the equipment to do so. If I can get the finish to look like that minus runs, bugs and whatnot, I'll be happy. I noticed when I laid the first coat, there was minimal dust and it was nice and flat. After 4 coats, dust gets kicked into the paint and urethane wave appears. So doing the extra coat of clear should yield better results.